Eleanor Vance coldly snatched three-year-old Zariah’s dinner plate away before violently kicking the heavy chair right out from under the little girl

The atmosphere in the Vance estate shifted over the next forty-eight hours from a luxurious home to a heavily fortified military bunker. Bodyguards patrolled the manicured lawns with assault rifles hidden beneath their professional coats.

Aaliyah paced the floor of the second-story safe room. The walls were reinforced steel, painted a soft cream to make it feel less like a cage, but it was a cage nonetheless. Zariah was sitting on a plush rug, coloring a picture book, completely unaware of the impending violence.

"Mom, you need to sit down," Jamal said. He was standing by the reinforced window, peering through the slight crack in the heavy blast blinds. He had traded his formal suit for tactical dark clothing. "Pacing isn't going to make Uncle Marcus get back any faster."

"He shouldn't have gone to the docks alone, Jamal," Aaliyah said, her voice tight with anxiety. "If Eleanor has the Romanovs backing her, Marcus is walking into an ambush."

"He's the Boss," Jamal stated with absolute confidence. "He doesn't walk into ambushes. He creates them."

Aaliyah stopped pacing and looked at her son. At sixteen, he was already hardening, adapting to the violent world he had been thrust into. She hated it, but she knew it was necessary for their survival.

"I just want us to be safe," Aaliyah whispered.

"We are," Jamal promised, stepping away from the window. "Silas has twenty men on the perimeter. No one is getting in."

Suddenly, the lights in the safe room flickered and died. The room was plunged into pitch blackness. A split second later, the dull red glow of the emergency backup lights kicked on, casting long, eerie shadows across the walls.

"What happened?" Zariah whimpered, dropping her crayons.

"Quiet, baby," Aaliyah hissed, rushing over to scoop the child into her arms.

Jamal immediately drew the heavy, matte-black pistol from his waistband. He moved to the heavy steel door, pressing his ear against the cold metal.